The present invention concerns an expandable cargo storage, a transportation means section having the expandable cargo storage, a transportation means having the transportation means section or the expandable cargo storage, as well as a method of operating such an expandable cargo storage, transportation means section or transportation means.
Modern transportation means, such as aircraft or trains, may be configured for transporting freight and passengers at the same time. Therefore, space within transportation means available for transporting is typically divided into a passenger compartment and a freight/cargo hold. For example, in aircraft according to the prior art having two decks (see, e.g., document EP 0 681 956 A1), the upper deck typically forms a passenger compartment in which the passengers are seated, whereas cargo is transported on the lower deck (i.e., the main deck). The cargo, e.g. the luggage of the passengers aboard the aircraft, may be arranged directly in the cargo bay of the aircraft, or in extra containers or pallets chargeable with freight before being loaded to the aircraft. Such an extra container is, e.g., described in document DE 10 2007 062 873 A1.
After the transportation means, e.g. the passenger aircraft, has reached its destination, the transported passengers leave the aircraft and eventually cargo is unloaded at the airport gate. Thereafter, the aircraft may be serviced and prepared by ground staff and/or cabin crew for the subsequent flight, whereby, for example, the seat configuration of the passenger cabin may be adapted. The time during which the aircraft must remain parked at the gate is called turnaround time. Usually, it starts when the aircraft receives the parking chocks and ends by removing them. Since direct operating costs of the aircraft generally scale with the turnaround time, it is desirable to keep the same as short as possible.